94 CAROLINE BURLING THOMPSON 



V. Rosen ('13) in a study of the eyes of termites, beginning with 

 the newly hatched nymphs, writes: 



Wie wir gesehen haben, besitzen die jiingsten Termitenlarven alle 

 gleichgestaltete Augenanlagen. Dieses Verhaltnis bleibt aiich noch 

 kiirze Zeit bestehen, nachdem die Differenzierung in Larven mit grossen 

 iind solche mit kleinen Kopf eingetreten ist. Man kann nur annehmen 

 dass durch verschiedene Ernahrung aus der indifferenten Larve beide 

 Formen gezuchtet werden. 



In L. flavipes the 'anlagen' of the eyes are not all alike in 

 the youngest nymphs, but two distinct types of eyes may be 

 distinguished at the time of hatching. The present writer 

 believes that a reexamination of the youngest nymphs of L. 

 lucifugus would also reveal two types of eyes. 



II 



This section deals, in the first place, with the works of those 

 writers who believe that some, if not all, of the castes of termites 

 are present at the time of hatching, and that the castes are 

 therefore predetermined in the egg by intrinsic factors which 

 are yet to be discovered. In the second place, those writers will 

 be considered whose work is in harmony with, and indeed fur- 

 nishes evidence for the above stated view. 



In the monograph of Bobe-Moreau ('43) we find what is 

 probably the first observation of any caste differentiation among 

 newly hatched nymphs. He states: 



Un tres-petit soldat, ne au printemps 1842, mele k des larves que 

 j'avais rassemblees, me fut une preuve qu'il etait sorti de I'oeuf avec 

 sa forme. Les soldats ne subissent done point de metamorphose. 



This observation of Bobe-Moreau's is attributed by Fritz 

 Midler ('73-'75) to Boffinet. On p. 463 Miiller remarks: 



Fine bis jetzt vereinzelte Ausnahme bildet der von Bofinet beo- 

 bachtete Soldat, der so klein war, dass er als solcher das Fi verlassen 

 zu haben schien. 



I can find no description of any such soldier nymph in the 

 writings of Bofhnet, so that I am inclined to believe the sub- 



